Late
by tentsubasa
Summary: Six years ago, Kahoko Hino was married, and ten months later, she had a child. Far too late to confess, Kazuki Hihara selfishly chooses to ignore her—until her son walks unexpectedly into his life. Now five years later, he has a chance to start anew with the woman he's always loved. But with five years of hurt between them, will it be too late for friendship, family, and love?
1. Chapter 1

**Thoughts are in italics within quotes.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Kiniro no Corda_ or any affiliates in any way shape or form.**

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With a soft sigh, he stretched out his long legs on his spot on the grass and lay down so he could look up into the vast expanse of deep, clear blue. A leaf of deep amber dropped near his head of grass. If it weren't for the pallor of his skin, one wouldn't be able to distinguish his face from the ground where he lay. He took another breath to gird himself before staring levelly at the great blue. Today was the day. He'd lay his soul bare to the sky which saw all and remembered all, and then he'd leave, never to return.

"_Do you believe in soul mates?_" he asked. "_I do._" He cocked his head slightly. "_Well, provided that it doesn't have to be love at first sight. Don't get me wrong; I'm sure love at first sight works for some people, but for me, it just wasn't that way._" He chuckled with a reminiscent smile. "_I had to literally fall over her before I began to realize just how special she was._" His smile changed to a painful grimace. "_Now that I think about it, can you call yourself soul mates if the other half doesn't feel the same way about you?_ _She said that I always made her smile, and we share a lot of interests, but she doesn't love me—at least, not the way I love her._" Rapidly blinking his eyes, he strove to press on. "_But…there's something about the term soul mates that seems right, so for now, I'll call her mine…even if I'm not hers._"

"_For six beautiful years, she was everything. The world was brighter with her in it with those eyes of limpid sunlight and that hair of blazing flame. And her smile…_" for a minute, he closed his eyes and basked in it. "_Oh, that smile…it…it always took my breath away. She was always a pretty girl. Although_," he smiled wryly, "_being silly, oblivious me, I don't think I really noticed until she smiled at me that first time on the roof. But when she smiled, she was radiant. It just bubbled up and shone from within. As long as she was smiling, everything was right in the world and nothing could go wrong._"

Buoyed by the feelings of yesteryear, he smiled serenely in a way that was now unfortunately unfamiliar. "_I met her my senior year of high school. We had both been selected to participate in a school-wide music competition. Unusually, this girl was from the General Education Department, not the Music Department like the other participants and me. I didn't really think much of her until about a week after the start of the competition. Some girls in the Music Department were bullying another participant and her, and in order to protect them, she agreed to play a song on her violin to show she was deserving of being in the competition or something like that. The ways of girls are a bit strange. Regardless, she ran across me practicing on the roof and we chatted for a bit. I guess she thought I helped her somehow because she thanked me and smiled at me. That was the first time she had ever smiled at me. It was a really cute smile, made her light right up. I also helped her when she hit a rough patch in the actual showdown performance the next afternoon. That was our first duet,_" he smiled softly, "_and the first time that I really felt like we were friends._"

"_After the first round, all the participants, plus a new guy who pinch-hit as her accompanist when hers didn't show, went on a trip to focus on practicing and stuff, I guess. Whatever the exact purpose was, it was a trip, which meant fun and ekiben!_" He laughed. "_The first night of the trip, she was aching all over from having practiced too hard. She played violin, so I guess her arms and chin were sore or something. Either way, as a nice senpai, I offered her something sweet to eat. Sweets are good when you're tired or something, I guess. And I discovered that we had a shared love of sweets. It was cool to just hang out with her and the others in our room. It was like she was one of the guys, and then…suddenly she wasn't._" He shook his head with a suppressed chuckle. "_It was so stupid. For some reason, Tsuchiura—he was one of the other participants—and I started playing tug-of-war with a pillow while arguing about who was going to sleep on the couch. In the end, the pillow split and I started hurtling for the floor. Not wanting me to fall over, she reached out to help me regain my balance, but I was too heavy and ended up shoving her into the bed._" His eyes glazed over as he remembered that night. "_It was…the weirdest thing. Somehow, she became the whole world. Sight, smell, touch, sound…she filled them all. If I lowered my face by even a couple centimeters, we would have kissed. You can imagine how appalled I was when Tsuchiura lifted me off of her. It hadn't even occurred to me that I had been laying on her that entire time!_" He looked embarrassed. "_Then she fled from the room before I could string together two coherent words. I did manage to apologize the next morning and we parted ways with our friendship intact, but I knew that after that night, I would never be able to look at her the same way again. She couldn't just be like a guy with long hair that I'd pal around with._"

He smiled up at his confidante. "_That was when I started to fall in love, though I didn't realize it until a while later. It was at this park._" He could see it as if it were yesterday. "_We ran into each other and she chose to practice near the courts where I was playing bball with my brother and his friends. After they left, we ran into Tsuchiura and his ex at a café. We just chatted for a while until his ex convinced us to play one-on-one bball. We played for a long time until I fell. I was clumsy, wasn't looking where I was going, but being the sweet, compassionate person she is, she took care of me. And it was then, being near her, that I realized it: I liked her. From that day forward, we continued along as we had been as friends, slowly growing closer as time went by, but now I had a secret._" He sighed. "_Maybe if I had told her how I felt at that summer camp later that year things would be different, but I just wanted to keep it to myself for a while. I'd never had a secret like this before, and it felt good to love her even if she didn't know it. I was blinded by the joy of being friends with her and loving her from afar. Maybe I thought it was more romantic this way, like the courtly love of the knights of yore or something. Maybe I was afraid to risk the steady, easy friendship we had. Whatever it was, I eventually learned that one-sided love is not all it's cracked up to be…_" he rubbed his eyes to clear them, "_but I'm getting off-topic._"

His face shone softly with the glow of youth as he remembered good times once again. "_For her first two years of college, we were inseparable. If we weren't in class or practicing, we were hanging out and working on homework. It didn't bother me that she'd always tell people that we were just friends whenever they'd hint discreetly,_" he grinned, "_or not so discreetly, that we were close. Because every time she denied it, she seemed to blush a little more deeply and her eyes would search mine a little more earnestly for support. As long as I was special to her, it was good enough. And in the future, who knew? Maybe one day, she'd just realize in a flash—as I did—that I was the one for her, just like she was the one for me._"

His mouth thinned a bit. Though he hadn't known it, this had been the beginning of the end. "_At the end of her sophomore year, she received an invitation to study abroad in Prague for the remainder of her college years. Of course she took it_," he snorted. "_Who wouldn't? It was Prague for crying out loud!_" His eyes went pensive again. "_So we parted with tears and promises to write and video chat for special occasions, which we kept faithfully. At their most frequent, letters came and went every three days, and at their most infrequent, once a month. We always sent our mail first-class so it'd get there as soon as possible._" He chuckled. "_The postal service must've made a killing on us. Eventually we settled on every-other week and kept to that for the next three years. We shared everything from the day-to-day to the deeply personal. Even though she was on another continent, when I read her letters, I felt as if I could reach out and touch her._"

His eyes flickered with unhappiness. "_I had been counting the days before I could see her again, but every visit she had originally planned kept getting pushed back and back until she just resigned herself to saying that she wasn't sure if she'd be able to visit until after she graduated. Her family visited her a couple times while she was away, but being a poor music student and then music teacher, I could hardly afford to go zipping off to the continent, at least, not for a while._" He grimaced slightly. "_I scrimped and scrounged to save money, hoping I'd be able to make it for her graduation, but I hadn't even made it three-quarters of the way by the time it rolled around. After settling for video-chatting with her on her graduation day, she told me she'd be staying another year because she'd gotten a one-year contract with an orchestra over there._" He sighed. "_So I scrimped and scrounged some more until I finally had enough. Coincidentally, she had a concert during Golden Week, so I made all the arrangements._"

He laughed mirthlessly. "_It was the worst trip in the history of the world, though it didn't start out that way. I arrived on the day of the concert, and had arranged to meet her backstage. I was on cloud nine at the prospect of seeing her again after three years apart. As soon as the curtain rose, I picked her out among the sea of faces. She was just as I remembered, but somehow so much more. The trip and the experience had been wonderful for her._" His eyes filled with awe again as he stepped into the scene. "_Even with all the instruments playing, I could pick hers out of the throng. Her music had always called to me in a way I could never strive to understand. Seeing and hearing her was…it was like someone had reached into my chest and yanked on it. It took me a minute to get my breath back. I had to tell her. I knew it better than I knew my own name._" He blinked back tears. "_I flew backstage like I had wings on my feet or something. But even then, I was out of time. When I arrived, it was to see my beloved swept happily into the arms of another man with his ring on her finger. The diamond sparkled brightly as the others surrounded her with their congratulations._" He glanced back at the sky, the focus coming briefly back to his eyes. "_But wait, it gets even better. I was so floored by the whole thing, it didn't even occur to me to try and get away so I could get a handle on things until her hand touched mine. Then I was forced to smile and congratulate her and her fiancé. Of course the trip was a wash after that. I only got one moment alone with her the entire rest of my trip: the morning I was leaving. And at that point the conversation completely revolved around _him_. She told me about how she and that guy had met—did you know they had been dating for two years and she didn't see fit to tell me—and how excited she was for the wedding and oh, what was she going to do? You get the general picture._"

He heaved a great sigh. "_I really am a child with no right to love._" He looked miserably into the expanse. "_Right before I left, when she was bidding me good-bye, she asked me if I thought she was doing the right thing marrying him. I could see the uncertainty and hesitation written all over her face. Any other person, when faced with that would have taken the chance God gave him and gone for broke. Told her he loved her and had since freaking high school and begged her to take a chance on him._" His laugh was grating to the ears. "_But me? I bit down and told her that if she loved him, it couldn't be wrong. I don't know what her response to that would have been because the final call for my flight came then. But a year later, they were married. And I was stupid and masochistic enough to go. The wedding was in Japan since both of them were from there. I spent most of the reception avoiding it since it hurt to be there. I was glad she was happy, but that's the only thing that kept me at the party until they left for their honeymoon and their life abroad._"

"_I haven't heard from her much ever since the baby was born five years ago._" His face darkened. "_No, that's not true. When I got birth announcement, I sent my congratulations and made up something about how I'd be busy and she'd be busy, so she didn't need to trouble herself with writing to me anymore. True to form, she wrote back. I received a reply two weeks later as if nothing had changed._"

Shame and sadness filled him. "_I didn't open it, still haven't actually. I was afraid to. Maybe she saw through my ruse. More likely, she was reassuring me that even with a baby in her life our friendship was something that she wanted to keep strong. Either way, I didn't want to read reminders of her love for another man._" With a sigh, he continued, "_I received another letter a few months later; haven't opened that one either._" His eyes drifted over to the beat-up metal box beside him. "_For three more years, she continued to write me with slowly decreasing frequency until finally the letters stopped._" He ran his fingers over the latch. "_They're all here, every single one, both opened and unopened._"

"_Sometimes I wonder what the baby looks like_," he admitted. "_Does he take after her or his father? Sometimes I wish I had been brave enough to learn more about the baby other than that his name was Yuji and he was a normal, healthy weight. But unlike the letters of her life both before and after she was married, I knew that her letters wouldn't be able to be devoid of her child as they were her husband. For some reason, her letters never mentioned that man more than in passing. I'm not sure if she somehow gathered that I wasn't particularly interested in hearing about him or if it was by accident, but either way, I was grateful. But a baby changes everything. They're her life now._" He frowned and sat up, continuing to maintain eye contact with the sky above. "_Since then, I've been plodding along through life. The only thing that gives me any joy is music and teaching, and even that has begun to finally wane._" He stared solemnly into the aching blue. "_So that's my story._" He ducked his head before staring up at the leaves above. "_Kind of pathetic, isn't it?_" He glanced down at the box. "_Apparently a soul mate isn't much without the other._" He picked up the box and played with it. "_But that'll be over soon._"

Folding his legs beneath him, he began to dig with the small spade he had brought. Carefully, so carefully, he placed the box in the hole and covered it up. Then, he headed toward home, trumpet slung over one shoulder. Yes, it would all be over soon.

"Excuse me?"

With a start, Kazuki turned to look down at a small thoughtful face.

"You're the trumpet man, right?"

He raised his green eyebrows in confusion. "The what?"

"The trumpet man," the boy replied patiently. "My friend said that sometimes he plays in this park." He motioned at the case. "That's a trumpet isn't it?"

He nodded.

"And your hair is the same green as the grass and you're tall, so you must be him," he finished logically. The brown-haired boy perched himself on the curb of the sidewalk. "Will you play for me please?"

"Uh…Sure…." He knelt down beside the boy with a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "But where's your Mommy? You aren't all alone are you?"

"I think she might be over by the basketball courts still," he replied solemnly. "We were watching the big kids play, but I got bored and thought I'd try to find you."

"Ah…well…." It was only then he noticed the boy's eyes were pale gold. Averting his gaze, he forced a lighter tone. "We should try and find her first, don't you think? She must be worried."

The boy cocked his head to the side. "You seem sad."

"Huh?" Where had that come from?

"When you smile, your eyes don't smile with you," he observed. "Does your heart hurt?"

His lower jaw dropped straight toward the concrete. Was this kid hyper-observant, or was he just that easy of a read?

"For a while Mama smiled like that too. When I asked her why, she said it was because her heart was hurt." He smiled proudly at him. "I kissed it to make it feel better just like she kisses my owies to make them feel better." He looked at him seriously. "Maybe you should have your Mama kiss your heart too. Mama said it felt a little better when I kissed hers."

"Uh…." He really didn't have a good response for that.

"Yuji Takashina! What have I told you about talking to strangers?!"

He stiffened. It couldn't be.

"But Mama, he's not a stranger. He's the trumpet man," the boy protested.

"That's enough out of you," the red-haired woman scolded, bending over to haul her child up. "I apologize if he-" her voice cut off as if all the sound had been sucked out of the universe. For the first time in five years, gold met amber, and the world fell off its axis. When it had righted itself again, she stared at him as if he were a ghost. "Hi-Hihara-senpai…?"

"Kaho-chan," he replied in a voice that belied the tumult of emotions he felt inside as he somehow managed to smoothly stand. As she opened and closed her mouth in shock, he looked up at the sky with a slight tremor in his movements.

Apparently it wasn't going to be over soon at all.

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**Ekiben is short for eki bentou, which are boxed lunches that are sold at train stations. They usually feature regional foods and are reasonably priced. Many people eat them if they have to take long train trips.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello. I've decided to cave and expand this story. I hope it doesn't suck too much as a result. I'm very, very sorry if it does! Ideally this story would be categorized as a Romance/Drama/Angst/Family, but I only got to pick two, so Romance/Drama it is.**

**The disclaimer that I retroactively (whoops!) put in the first chapter holds for the rest of the story.**

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The silence stretched on for ages until she finally broke it. "So…that's it?"

"Huh?" He snapped out of his daze to see hurt in her eyes.

"After all this time, after all these years, that's all you have to say to me? My name?" she choked out. "After _five years_, that's all you can say?!"

"Urgh…." Oh yes, that was brilliant right there. He mentally slapped himself. Really eloquent. "Uh…err…what-what brings you to town…?"

Her eyes bugged out of her head. Was he serious?! "We live here," she managed through gritted teeth. "Have for the last two years."

"_They've lived here for two years?!_" he panicked. How had he never run into them at all? How had he not heard about that at all? She'd been a bit of a local hero back in the day. Catching the murderous glint that was slowly beginning to replace the shock in her eyes, he quickly pushed aside his thoughts. He needed to distract her, now. Her temper had a very long fuse, but once it blew, you wanted to be as far away as possible. "Oh, uh…so…" he cleared his throat uncomfortably, "Takeshi-san's job transferred him over here?"

It was obviously the wrong thing to ask.

She was stunned. She couldn't have been more blindsided if he had just whacked her on the head with his trumpet case. Tears filled her eyes. How could he ask such a thing? The Hihara-senpai of the past had never been so insensitive! "Takeshi-san passed away two years ago," she whispered. Hurt and anger shone in her accusing eyes. "You knew that."

"_Takeshi-san…is _dead_?_" Shocked would have been too mild a word to define how he felt. "_I didn't know that! What is she talking abou_-_?_" His brain shut down before shooting off in a million directions all at once. "_Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no. She didn't. She couldn't have?!_" Without a second thought, he fled the scene, cursing himself for dumping the spade in the trash as he raced away from the widow and her son.

At a loss, Yuji looked a few times between the rapidly shrinking figure of the trumpet man and his crying mother. "Mama, Mama," he tugged worriedly on her hand.

Wiping her eyes free of moisture, she knelt down and hugged him. "I'm sorry, Mama just…" she sniffed.

"It's okay Mama," he assured, squeezing her back.

Once her breathing slowed to a normal pace, she rose again. They needed to go. They needed to go right now. But just as she was about to tell Yuji as much, she noticed Kazuki's trumpet case sitting in the middle of the sidewalk.

She frowned. To leave or not to leave…that was the question. After the stunt he just pulled, it would serve him right if she left and someone stole it. But—she drooped a bit—she couldn't do that. Stupid conscience. Heaving a great sigh, she picked up the case. "Did you see where the man went, Yuji?"

He looked at her with worried eyes. "Are you sure you want to see him? You were kind of scary, and he made you cry."

Grimacing, she motioned to the trumpet case. "We should return this to him. It's the right thing to do."

Nodding, he tugged her hand and led the way.

Kahoko quietly followed her son, not really paying attention to where they were going, focusing her energy on trying to rein in her emotions. "_The best thing to do is to play it cool_," she decided. Get in and get out. She told herself to channel Tsukimori-kun from back when she first met him. "_Frost and ice. Frost and ice._" Her life had been just fine without Kazuki Hihara-senpai for the last five years, and it would continue to be just fine without him.

"Mr. Trumpet Man, why are you doing that?"

Kahoko blinked her eyes to bring herself back to the present; then rubbed them because she couldn't _believe_ what she was seeing. It was like Kazuki had temporarily become a human mole as he frantically clawed at the ground beneath a tree with a kind of manic desperation. What was he doing indeed? Trying to uproot the thing? She watched him warily, surreptitiously moving Yuji a little bit behind her. Maybe he had gone stark, raving crazy in the last five years. Yeah, that might be it. He hadn't responded to her letters because he had been locked up in some kind of mental institution or something. She shook her head to dismiss the thought of her unanswered letters. Forget that. He hadn't been a concern of hers for two years, and he could continue to stay out of her life for all she cared.

She cleared her throat, "Ahem…."

He didn't seem to notice her, just kept single-mindedly gouging the earth like his life depended on it.

Not taking any care to hide her annoyance, she stiffly stated, "Here is your trumpet case, Hihara-senpai. I didn't want it to fall into the wrong hands."

His eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he continued to push aside the dirt. "_Almost there…._"

"Well, good-bye." She turned sharply to leave.

"Found it!"

Both Takashinas jumped slightly at his outburst as he held his prize: a banged up, dingy metal box. Her eye twitched a bit in annoyance. He had ditched her and ignored her for a box? They had been friends for eight freaking years, and a beat-up _box_ was more important than apologizing for unceremoniously dropping her out of the blue and callously asking about her deceased husband in front of her son?!

Well that did it. Stuffing her resolve to just ignore and freeze him out for the rest of her life, she marched right over and plucked the now-open receptacle from his fingers, fully intent on tossing it and its contents into the nearest, most disgusting garbage can she could find and chewing him out so thoroughly and scathingly his ears would be blistered and bleeding for days. Then she would dump him like he dumped her and be on her merry way.

But as she registered exactly what was _in_ the box, she froze. In disbelief, she picked up letter after letter, a decent portion of them unopened, letters from _her_. Her legs buckled as the world dropped out from under her feet. What was going on?

Slowly taking the container, Kazuki joined her on the ground. "I…I didn't _know_," he whispered. "I never read them. Not since I sent that last letter to you." He felt so ashamed. "I'm so sorry Kaho-chan. I never imagined you two were going through something like that."

"You didn't know," she said dumbly, staring off into space.

"No."

"You didn't read my letters."

"No."

"For the last five years, you haven't read any of my letters."

"No."

Oh, then did she look at him with a vengeance. "You-you jerk!" she screeched. "You insensitive, selfish…selfish, grass-for-brains imbecile!" She had never, ever felt such a strong desire to physically hurt anyone in her life. "I-I could hit you!"

He didn't even try to defend himself. "I know! I know! I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry! _Please_, hit me if it will make you feel better!"

She ignored him, too set on her rant. "Five years, Hihara-senpai! Five _years_! For _five years_, you don't say anything!" She was starting to get a little hysterical. "You…you…ugh!" She tossed her head in her hands and began screaming various insults into them in between sobs.

Both males had no idea what to do. Neither of them had ever seen her like this. Yuji was starting to doubt his friend who had told him the trumpet man was a kind person. He had done something that had made Mama cry, twice.

Eventually, Kazuki's brain decided to get with the program. If he didn't stop her soon, she'd make herself sick. Grabbing a hold of her shoulders, he began to try coaxing her out of her fit. When that didn't work, he drew in a deep breath. "Get a grip, Kaho-chan! You're scaring Yuji-kun!" he bellowed, completely bowling over her.

For a full minute, the only thing that could be heard was the heavy, uneven breathing of the adults. Then, stricken, Kahoko reached out for her son. "Yuji…."

He rushed into her arms and squeezed her tight as she cried and apologized softly. From the shelter of his mother's embrace, Yuji shot daggers at the green-haired man.

Kazuki flinched. Even if they were in a different face, it hurt to have those golden eyes look at him so hatefully.

"Why?" she croaked.

"Eh?" Kazuki looked up to meet her tearful face.

"Why did you never write back Hihara-senpai?" Her voice cracked. "I thought you might have died, or gotten really sick, or that you were in a coma or something! Do you know how worried I was about you? The least you could have done was straight up said that you didn't want to be my friend anymore…."

The words pierced him like a dagger. Every tear that fell from her eyes ripped him to shreds. Faced with the reality before him, his reasons for keeping away from her seemed selfish and petty. Heck, they _were_ selfish and petty. He claimed to love her, but he certainly hadn't made that decision with her in mind. He had only thought of himself. That wasn't love. He clenched his fists. He needed to stop being a coward about the things most vital to his life. For the past five years, running was all he had done. He had failed her. He who had always promised that he'd be there to support her had stood by and let the world run over her and her son with a bulldozer. Well, not any longer. For some reason, they had met again, so this was going to stop. Here and now.

Solemnly, he arranged his legs underneath him and bowed down with his face low to the ground.

"Hihara…sen-pai…?" she sniffled.

"I am truly sorry, Kaho-chan." Ashamed of himself, he confessed, "I have no excuses, and no words other than these."

"Senpai…." She just stared at him, tears drying on her face, moved by the sincerity in his voice and actions. Wiping her eyes, she begged, "Please, sit up Hihara-senpai. You shouldn't be prostrating yourself before me."

He vehemently shook his head, not even lifting himself a single millimeter to keep his forehead from grinding in the dirt. "No, Kaho-chan. I've hurt you so badly."

"Senpai…." She looked down at Yuji who nodded; he seemed truly sorry. Kahoko smiled down at her angel and held him close. He was such a good child, not one to hold grudges.

Extracting himself from his mother's arms, Yuji walked over to the trumpet man and squatted down beside him. For a minute, he just sat there until much to Kahoko's horror, he started poking him. He poked him in the head, the neck, the back, the leg, even in the side. Was he not ticklish anywhere?

"Yuji!" she hissed. "What on Earth do you think you are doing?"

"I'm trying to make the trumpet man sit up so we can tell him we forgive him. He must be ticklish _somewhere_."

Kahoko was so busy moaning in embarrassment that she completely missed Kazuki's snort of laughter.

Victory! Brightening up, Yuji poked him in the stomach again to try and bring it back, not realizing that Kazuki hadn't laughed because of his poking. When the pokes didn't seem to be achieving their desired effect, he began to prod the area more insistently, even getting on his knees to have a better angle. Why wasn't it working?

At this point, Kazuki pounced. Sweeping up the startled child, he began to mercilessly tickle him in the stomach until the shout of alarm turned to shrieking fits of laughter. "So it's a tickle war you want now, is it?"

"Stop! Stop!" he gasped as he writhed in Kazuki's tickling grasp.

"Nu-uh, this is payback." He began to poke Yuji's side with his other hand. "How do you like being poked?"

He simply squirmed and howled in response under the double-attack.

"Do you give?" Kazuki jokingly demanded as he temporarily kicked it up a notch.

"I give! I give!" he laughed, flopping to the ground next to the chuckling man. Once he caught his breath, he grinned conspiratorially up at him. "Now help me get Mama!"

"You got it," Kazuki agreed, swinging the spiky-haired boy to his feet.

"What?! No!" Kahoko screamed with a laugh as she ran for her life from the two tickle monsters. "You can't catch me!" she cried gleefully as they chased her around and around the tree.

"Quick! Go around the other way and cut her off Yuji-kun!"

"Eek!" she cried as Yuji tackled her middle, gamely falling to the ground in a heap with him.

"Now get 'er! Get 'er!" Kazuki cheered as Yuji enthusiastically engaged in a tickle fight with his mother.

The tables quickly turned though, as mother and son ganged up on the hapless trumpeter, Kahoko holding his wrists captive as Yuji gleefully administered his revenge.

"I give! I give!" Kazuki finally cried hoarsely after what seemed like eternity as he collapsed to the ground beside the other two.

For a long while, they all just lay there catching their breath until Kazuki started cracking up. Yuji soon joined in with Kahoko finally giggling as well as she curled up with her son.

"_It feels good to laugh like this again_," Kazuki thought as joy burst out from his lungs. It had been far, far too long since he had had this much fun.

"Mr. Trumpet Man?"

"Hmm?" he smiled over at the inquisitive eyes of the boy.

"Now that we've found Mama, can you play your trumpet like you said you would?"

"_Yu_ji…" Kahoko warned.

"_Will_ you _please_ play your trumpet like you said you would?" he quickly amended.

He grinned. "It'd be my pleasure."

Noting the interest in his eyes, he made a big production of taking out his trumpet and sliding in his mouthpiece.

Yuji cocked his head. "Why is it silver instead of gold?"

"Because it's cooler," Kazuki joked. "Not really, well, sort of. I chose this trumpet because it looked cooler to me, but trumpets are made of brass, which is a metal that looks like gold. My trumpet though, has silver over the brass to make it look awesome."

"Oooh…."

Standing, Kazuki flashed the boy a real, genuine smile. He seemed to be doing that a lot today. "For my performance, I will play _Auf Flügeln des Gesanges_ by Mendelssohn."

Smiling softly, Kahoko settled Yuji in her lap as they listened to the bright, clear sound of the trumpet. It really seemed like the song had grown wings and taken flight.

She closed her eyes and let the music sweep her off her feet into the crisp, autumn breeze. He had gotten better since their college days. Had it really been that long since she last heard him play? She had missed the boost his playing always gave her, the warmth and strength that was unique to Hihara-senpai's sound.

As the last note faded from the sky, they both clapped loudly.

"Wow! You play really good-"

"_Yu_ji…."

"Uh, I mean, really _well_, Mr. Trumpet Man."

Kazuki grinned and bowed, flourishing an imaginary top hat. "Thank you! Thank you! You're too kind."

"Can I try?"

"Sure, so long as you don't mind my spit," Kazuki joked.

"What?! Ewww!"

"I've only got one mouthpiece kid."

"Do I…do I have to-to drink it…?" he asked with wide eyes.

"What?! Ew! No way!" Kazuki mimed a gagging noise. "That's gross!"

"Oh!" Yuji brightened right up. "In that case, I don't mind sharing."

"Ok, but you're going to have to do something for me."

"Is it hard?"

"It might take a bit, but it's not too, too hard," Kazuki assured him. "I want you to say, 'Mmm….'"

"Mmm…."

"Good, good. Just like that. Keep going," he encouraged. "Now keep your lips like that, but try to blow air through your lips like that so you get a buzzing sound." He demonstrated.

"O-kay!" Yuji blew and blew, but no matter what he did, he couldn't quite make that same buzzing sound. "I thought you said this wouldn't be hard!" he complained.

"I said it might take a bit," Kazuki corrected. "But you're doing a really good job, way better than my first swing at it."

"Really?"

"Really."

Kahoko chuckled to herself as she watched the two of them blowing and blowing, trying to get Yuji to buzz properly. Suddenly noting how much darker it got, she checked her watch. "Oh my goodness! It's already that late?!" She quickly scrambled up and scooped up her protesting child. "I'm really sorry Hihara-senpai, but we have to go. We're supposed to be at my parents' house for dinner, and we won't make it if we don't get moving." She checked her watch again. "I think there should be a bus coming by soon."

"What time do you need to be there?"

"In about half-an-hour."

"Have they moved since we were in college?"

"No…." She looked at him strangely.

"Then why don't I drive you?" he offered easily. "I've got my parents' car while they're visiting my aunt. It should only take about ten minutes from here."

"Are you sure? I don't want to impose…."

"I'm sure," he stated firmly. Lowering his voice so Yuji wouldn't hear, he reasoned, "Besides, it'll give Yuji-kun a chance to actually play with the trumpet a bit. He can't seriously play it for another few years, but he can fool around a little."

"Well…" she was weakening, "okay. Thank you, Hihara-senpai." Bending down to Yuji, she told him, "Since we're getting a ride to Grandma and Grandpa's house, we can stay a little longer, but when we say it's time to go, it's time to go, with no complaining, understood?"

"Yup!"

"Now say, 'Thank you.'"

Yuji beamed up at Kazuki. "Thank you Mr. Trumpet Man! Now can we get back to the blowing? I think I almost got it that last time!"

"You bet!"

After another few minutes of straight blowing, a small, short buzz erupted from Yuji's lips. His face lit up like Christmas. "I think I got it!"

"Try and remember how you did it; see if you can do it again."

For another couple of minutes, he tried until he managed to do it again, this time a little bit longer.

"Good! Good! Keep going!"

For the next five minutes, they kept doing that until Yuji could consistently get a buzzing sound in every breath he blew, even if the volume and duration were highly irregular.

"Can I try with the trumpet now?"

"Sure thing," Kazuki brandished the instrument to the small, eager boy. "Since your hands aren't as large as mine, I'll hold it here, and you can hold it here," he indicated a spot away from the slides where Yuji could grip the metal as he buzzed into the mouthpiece.

It literally sounded like a dying elephant, but you wouldn't know it from the look of pure pride and wonder on Yuji's face. "Did you hear that, Mama? Did you hear that? I did it! I made a sound!"

"Yes! Yes, you did!" Kahoko agreed happily, ruffling his hair, making the already spiky tufts stick out at even stranger angles.

"Way to go Yuji-kun!" Kazuki cheered from where he was kneeling. "Now try to blow more air through to make it louder."

Any normal person would have started running in the other direction with their ears covered, but not the trio in the field. To them, it was one of the most beautiful, joyful sounds in the world.

After completing another movement of the symphony of the expiring, long-nosed pachyderm (a.k.a. dying elephant), Kazuki reluctantly took the instrument back and began packing it away. "We'd better get going."

"Awww!"

"_Yu_ji…."

"Oops, sorry," he grinned sheepishly.

She just shook her head and smiled. "How far is it to your car, Hihara-senpai?"

"Not far." He checked his watch again and squatted down so he and Yuji were face-to-face. "Do you like piggy-back rides?"

His eyes lit right up. "Really?!" He turned to his mother and turned on the puppy dog eyes. "Oh, can I Mama, please? Please? Can I?"

She didn't have any problem with it. "If Hihara-senpai doesn't mind."

"Yeah!" he cheered and clambered onto Kazuki's back.

Standing up, Kazuki suddenly looked embarrassed. "Uh…."

"Is something wrong, Hihara-senpai?" Her eyes shone with concern. Was Yuji too heavy? Had Hihara-senpai strained his back during their tickle wars? The man was only thirty, so he should be fine, but sometimes things like that manifested early.

"I forgot about my stuff…" he admitted with a blush. Why was he so scatterbrained?

With a laugh, she walked over to pick up the trumpet case and box of letters. Even all these years later, he was still the same old Hihara-senpai. "Is there anything else?"

"Nope," he shook his head, "that's everything. Thanks Kaho-chan."

"Thank you for the ride," she answered as they started walking toward the car.

"Giddy up!" Yuji whooped.

"You got it pardner!" Kazuki winked as he began to lope across the grass.

A pretty short piggy-back and car ride later, the Takashinas were deposited in front of the Hinos' front door.

"Will we ever see you again, Mr. Trumpet Man?" Yuji asked as Kazuki handed Kahoko a couple of bags she had placed in the trunk.

Kazuki's eyes flicked to Kahoko. "If your Mama wants."

"Mama?"

Her eyes flicked over to Kazuki's. "Yes, I think it would be very nice for all of us to see each other again, but before we leave," she flashed him that smile he lived for, "I think some proper introductions are in order." Bending down so she and her son were eye-level, she introduced, "Yuji, this is Kazuki Hihara-senpai. He's a very old friend from when Mama was in high school."

"Oh! That's where I've seen you before!" He grinned first at Kazuki, then at his mother. "He's one of the people from the picture! The one from the music competition, right?"

"That's right."

"That's how we met," Kazuki added, crouching down as well.

Yuji cocked his head thoughtfully. "So…I'm guessing if we're being properly introduced and all, I'm not supposed to call you Mr. Trumpet Man anymore, am I?" He looked between the two adults. "So what _do_ I call you?"

At the same time, Kahoko said, "Hihara-san," Kazuki said, "Kazuki-san." Remembering all the times Kazuki had tried to get Kahoko to relax the formality of what she called him back in college, both of them looked at each other and laughed.

"Your call," Kazuki acquiesced.

"Call him Hihara-san, Yuji."

"Okay…Hihara-san." Leaning closer to Kazuki he loudly whispered. "If you want, I can think of you as Kazuki-san."

"No, you should do as your mother says," Kazuki smiled. "Maybe one day, we'll know each other well enough that you call me Kazuki-san, Yuji-kun."

"Kahoko? Yuji? Is that you?"

"Grandma!" Yuji cried happily as he flew over to the door to give his grandmother a big hug.

"_Yu_ji!" Kahoko scolded from the sidewalk. "Say goodbye properly before running off!"

"Bye-bye Hihara-san!" Yuji shouted with his hands cupped around his mouth. "I hope we'll see you again soon!"

"Bye Yuji-kun!" Kazuki waved. "It was fun!"

"I'll be in in a minute," Kahoko called to her mother. "I just need to talk to Hihara-senpai really quick."

With a nod, Ryouko Hino turned back into the house with her grandson, listening to him chatter happily about his day.

Slowly blowing out a breath, she turned to him. "I'm sorry about earlier, Hihara-senpai."

He shook his head vehemently, pain and sadness coming back to his eyes. "Don't be. You have nothing to apologize for," he hung his head, "unlike me. You don't know how much it means to me that you accepted my apology."

"Senpai…."

"I…I know I probably don't deserve to ask this, and…and I know it won't be the same as before, but," he looked earnestly into her eyes, "would you be willing to try being friends again?"

Tears of happiness sprang up. "I'd like that." As she wiped the beads of water away with her finger, she admitted, "I missed you, Hihara-senpai."

"I missed you too," he echoed. "_More than you'll ever know._" Searching around for his cell phone, he pulled it out. "Want to trade numbers? I finally got my own plan." He made a comical face. "Being an adult and all, I have to be responsible or something like that."

Giggling, she pulled out her phone as well and they pointed them at each other until the information finished exchanging.

"Well," he raised a hand, "I'll see you around."

"Yes," she nodded.

As he climbed in the car, he quickly rolled down the passenger-seat window and waited for her to poke her head in curiously. "Umm…if you ever have trouble finding someone to watch Yuji-kun, let me know." He gave her a sympathetic smile. "It's got to be tough doing it all on your own."

"Between my parents and my siblings' families, babysitting is pretty much covered, but if something comes up, I'll let you know." She smiled. "Thank you." She glanced back at the house. "He had a lot of fun today."

"I did too," he said sincerely. "He's a great kid. You've done a really good job with him."

Blushing, she pulled out of the car. "Alright, get on with you," she slapped the car playfully. "I'll call you sometime this weekend to set something up."

"I'll hold you to that," he called back as he started the ignition. Then with a friendly wave, he was off.

Waving as well, she settled back on her heels with her arms crossed over her chest as his car drove out of sight. She was still hurt, but it seemed like the ravine between them was starting to get bridged, if only a little. Time would tell for sure. She smiled softly and turned toward the house.

* * *

**I'm sorry if Kahoko seems extremely out of character here, but…she does have some temper as seen in the anime. And personally, if my best friend in the whole world suddenly decided to drop off the face of the Earth, and then my husband died leaving me a single mother with all the stresses of that, and aforesaid best friend turned up years later and acted like Kazuki did, I'd be pretty angry too. I mean, seriously, from her point of view, he totally rejected her attempts to keep in touch and in some sense willingly chose not to be there during the most major crisis of her life. That loses **_**major**_** friend points and definitely warrants some angry blowing up, would you not agree? Then again, maybe I should be more worried that I made her forgive him too quickly, but then again, Kahoko always was a major softie. XD**

**Man, this story so far has been angst, angst, angst; suck, suck, suck; drama, drama, drama; happy fluffiness! It needs to make up its mind.**


	3. Chapter 3

"Kahoko, can you help me with the dishes?"

Kahoko looked over her shoulder from where she was tucking Yuji into bed. Since it had gotten late, they were staying the night. "Sure, Mom," she murmured softly. With a final kiss on his forehead, she silently closed the door and followed her mother down the stairs.

For a while, they did the dishes in silence, Ryouko washing and Kahoko drying and putting away. But Kahoko wasn't fooled, she knew her mother wanted to talk about Hihara-senpai.

"So…."

And so it began.

"I noticed someone gave you a ride here."

"Umm…yes." She tried to keep her tone light. "You remember Hihara-senpai from back in high school and college? Yuji and I ran into him at the park. We had a nice time playing together."

"Is this the same boy you were such good friends with that turned around and ignored you for the last five years?"

"_Well, she certainly didn't mince words_," Kahoko thought with a cringe. Now that he wasn't here, she could feel doubt beginning to creep in. "It…is…."

Ryouko looked at her daughter in concern. "Are you sure it's wise to let him back into your life, not to mention Yuji's life, so easily? Yuji seemed to really like him. He's already lost his father. What if he grows to look to Hihara-san as a father-figure and he drops off the radar again?"

"He won't disappear again," she stated firmly as she stacked a plate in the cupboard. Now if only she felt as confident as she sounded.

"And how can you be so sure?"

"Does it really matter?" she evaded. This was totally unfair. How was she supposed to convince herself she was doing the right thing if all she could think about were the potential pitfalls?

"Honey…."

She blew out a breath that teased her bangs. Maybe if she explained the situation, she'd understand. "When we first ran into each other, we got into a huge fight, and I found out he hadn't read any of my letters since he sent me that weird one five years ago."

"And your point is…?"

"My point is that he didn't know I was going through all that stuff," she defended as she placed a bowl a tad more firmly than was necessary in its spot. "Once he found out, he was so horrified and sincerely apologetic that…well…" she trailed off at her mother's skeptical look. "I guess you had to be there," she mumbled. "Regardless, I don't think he'll do something like that again."

"I see," Ryouko said evenly. She handed her a cup. "Did he give a reason for _why_ he never read those letters?"

Kahoko shifted uncomfortably as she wiped off the outside. "Not really."

She turned her attention back to the sink. "Interesting."

Kahoko sighed. She could see she still didn't approve. "All he said was that he was sorry and that he had no excuses for his behavior."

"And that was good enough for you?"

"He prostrated himself on the ground! He wouldn't get up even when I begged him to," she exclaimed in a sudden burst of passion. The intense look in her eyes fiercely defended her case as she implored, "If you had seen his face or even just heard his voice at that moment…." The sentence died as Ryouko dropped her gaze, her face still unyielding. As the silence stretched on, Kahoko exhaled and pensively ran her towel around the rim of another cup. "I know he must have reasons of some sort or another that made him do what he did, and maybe I should have been more adamant about finding out what they were," she murmured quietly with a sigh. "But when all's said and done, he regrets making that decision. I truly believe that." She placed the cup down and looked Ryouko beseechingly in the eye. "Hihara-senpai is one of the sweetest, most genuine people I have ever known. You always liked him for that, Mom."

"Yes…" Ryouko grudgingly admitted. "Yes, I did."

"He wouldn't lie, not about this."

"No, he wouldn't," she reluctantly agreed.

Kahoko gave her a sad smile. "Don't you think he deserves a second chance?"

She pulled her daughter close and lightly kissed her forehead in answer. Her Kahoko was such a kind, forgiving person, and Ryouko was proud of that. But she didn't want to see her daughter hurt again. All a parent really wants is the best for their children. Even while understanding there are some things that need to be experienced, they want to protect them from pain and suffering as much as possible.

Kahoko had already experienced so much tragedy and despite that, had found the strength to weather it. And now, here was a blast from her past, someone who had hurt her very deeply and had deserted her when she needed her friends the most. And she wanted to open her heart to him again, risk being rejected and abandoned again.

Ryouko frowned. She wasn't certain if this attempt to reconcile with Hihara-san a good thing or not, but since she had chosen to try, all she could do was trust her daughter and pray that things would turn out well for her and Yuji. And if they didn't, well, then she would be there to help pick up the pieces.

They finished the dishes while talking of normal things, both tacitly understanding that further discussion on the previous topic was over. Until Kahoko was ready to leave the kitchen at least.

"Kahoko?"

"Hmm?" She turned to see her mother watching her with a thoughtful expression.

"The next time Hihara-san drives you two over here, ask if he'd like to come in. We haven't seen him in a long time."

Her smile shone. She was glad to have her mother on her side again. "I will."

As Kahoko lay on the floor next to her old bed, she thought about the day. It was amazing how much things had changed in a matter of minutes. Well, maybe now that she was away from outside influences, she could look at things with a clearer perspective.

Yes, she had let him back into her life. But she wasn't going to be stupid about it. Like Hihara-senpai had said, it wouldn't be the same as before. She believed his apology was sincere, but she didn't trust him, at least not completely. For old time's sake, she felt she owed him the chance to make amends, but people change in five years. Who knew if they even could be friends again?

She sighed. Strangely, the one thing her mother was so worried about was kind of what she hoped would happen. She absolutely believed that having Hihara-senpai around would be good for Yuji. The two of them had genuinely liked each other. Hihara-senpai hadn't played with him as a ploy to get back into her good graces; he just enjoyed it. And he had many of the traits she wanted Yuji to possess someday such as kindness, generosity, and an optimistic approach to life. Of course, he had plenty of flaws to go along with his good points, but no one was perfect.

A glowing smile adorned her face as she thought of that afternoon. It had been really nice for Yuji to have an older guy who wasn't a relative take sincere interest in him. He had thrived on the attention. Since Takeshi-san had died when Yuji was so young, he'd never really had anything like that. Even if she and Hihara-senpai would never think of each other as anything more than friends—and thus he would never be more than a father figure to Yuji—she believed that this sort of relationship was something she should encourage.

Her mouth settled into a firm line. Yuji's needs were more important than her petty fears and insecurities. So for him, she'd let Hihara-senpai in, at least a little. Exactly where things went with their friendship would remain to be seen.

That resolved, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to heed the call of dreamland. As she succumbed to blissful unconsciousness, she idly wondered what Hihara-senpai was doing.

As it so happened, he was reading her letters. He was almost done with them, and with each passing letter, he felt worse and worse about not responding all those years ago. Currently he felt like he was at about the level of the lowest scum on Earth. Next he'd probably feel like the lowest scum in the inner planets, followed by the solar system, the Milky Way, the galaxy group the Milky Way was in, the group plus intergalactic space, and the universe. After that, he'd have to start trying to figure out what could be lower than the lowest scum of the universe. He quickly counted the remaining letters. Oh goody, he had just enough to stay within the universe. He frowned sadly at the final letter. Although, it was entirely possible that this last letter would make him feel so horrible, he'd completely surpass lowest scum of the universe.

"_Ugh…._" He banged his head against his kotatsu. Why couldn't he have just sucked it up and written back to her all those years ago? It's not like he hadn't wanted to when he saw that the letters kept coming despite him not responding.

By the time he finished the last letter, he was crying. It was official. He was not the lowest scum in the universe. He was the bacteria that created the pus that infects the mucus that cakes the fungus that feeds on the lowest scum of the universe. How could he have ever thought it would be a good idea to shut her out like that?

He looked at a letter near the very beginning. They had wanted him to be Yuji-kun's godfather—the man who had wanted nothing to do with the child in question for five years until destiny came and smacked him upside the head while shooting him straight between the eyes. And Takeshi-san—he glanced at her last letter. Oh God…that must have been so frightening. I mean, one day he just had a cold, and in a matter days, bam, he was dead. It had been so sudden, and she had had no one out there. He couldn't even imagine how horrible it must have been for her.

His heart wrenched as he pictured her shattered and lost as the world fell to pieces. She could always find work as a concert violinist, either as a soloist or a member of an orchestra, but they just weren't single-mom-with-a-toddler-friendly hours. So she had come home. Two years ago, she had come home to Japan.

He was a slug. Even then, there was the tiniest shred of hope that he'd come to the memorial service they were holding here, that even despite his strange absence in recent years, he would be the friend she needed. He banged his head into the table over and over again. He could not have _planned_ a better way to so spectacularly fail her.

He stared at the messy pile before him numbly. So now what? He had to make amends; that much was obvious, but how?

He fisted his hands in his hair. "_I have one shot. Just one. If I screw this up, it's over._" He felt panicked. "_I can't lose her. Not again. Not again. She's…she's…the light, or something, I guess._" He frowned and mussed up his hair. "_No, light is the right word. Though I didn't realize it, before her, my world was dim and dark. I just hadn't known any different. Then she just happened into it, and…and everything changed. My life opened up and flooded with color._" He thought back to all the happy times, and then to the ones after he had turned his back on her. Life had lost its color; the sun had become cold; and the dark was so much darker than he had remembered, possibly even more so because he had chosen to shut out the light.

He frantically fought the wave of despair and unhappiness that threatened to smother him. Trembling a little bit, he swore, "_I can't go back. I can't. I won't! _"

He closed his eyes and rested his head on his folded hands. Just like before, she had landed unexpectedly and miraculously in his life, and just like before, everything had become warm and clear. But now that she was back, how did he make her stay? He couldn't afford to lose her again. He had to give her a reason to trust him again, had to show her somehow.

He blew out a breath that teased his bangs. "_So again, what in the world am I supposed to do? How can I make her see I'm sorry? How can I show her it's okay to trust me? That I'm reliable? That I truly treasure her? That I'm determined not to screw things up this time? That I'd do anything for her? That-_" his brain screeched to a halt before it completely derailed itself.

"_Stop_," he ordered himself. "_Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop._" This was taking a sharp turn into insanity.

He blew out a breath. He was coming at this all wrong. "_This is about restoring a friendship, not about a second chance at trying to show her how much I love her and always have._" He sighed. "_Friends, focus on being friends. Although_," he thought a bit sardonically, "_do I even know how to be just friends with her anymore? For the majority of our friendship, I've been half or all the way in love with her._"

He covered his face. "_And why her? Why does she have to be the one? Trying to be friends again would be so much easier if I weren't in love with her. It'll be all I can do to stop myself from trying to make her mine before she's snatched up again._" His eyes darkened. "_Figures the only girl I've ever wanted is the one that I've completely blown my chances with_," he thought bitterly. He shook his head vigorously to dispel the resentment. "_Suck it up_," he scolded sternly. "_You have a chance to rebuild _something_. That's more than you deserve_." He remembered the shock and hurt in her eyes and closed his in pain. "_Way more._"

He bit his lip. Maybe he had been in love with her basically their whole friendship, but both of them had treasured the connection they had shared back then, even if it was love-hazed on his end of things. It wasn't necessarily a terrible thing that love colored their relationship, even if he knew that he had absolutely no chance with her anymore. It had worked for eight years; there was no reason it couldn't work again. It wouldn't be easy, and it would take time to regain lost ground—lots and lots of time probably—but he'd endure it. He had to.

Resolution settled on his shoulders as he stared solemnly at the heap of letters before him. If it felt a bit hollow, well that was just too bad; his decision was made. He closed his eyes in resignation.

He'd do what he'd done best for over a third of his life. And wait. He'd love her, knowing she would never be his; be with her, understanding that he didn't deserve even this much; stand by her side, recognizing that it could only be as her friend, never anything more; make sure she would never be alone and helpless again, being the friend he should have been. And wait.

For the day he'd be fully forgiven. For the day she'd trust him again. For the day he'd be satisfied with what he had and not long for more. After all, he had the light back.

He sighed and rested his head on the hard surface of the kotatsu. It was going to be a long wait.

* * *

**This chapter was a little filler-ish, I suppose, but since the previous chapter had ended so happily, I felt like things needed to be knocked down a peg. After all, all is not well in paradise. Poor Kazuki; life is looking a little bleak.**

**Tentsubasa's Japanese Corner:**

**A kotatsu is a table with a heating lamp connected to the bottom. It's fairly low to the ground, so when you sit at it, you're sitting on the floor, or maybe a floor cushion. You cover the base of the kotatsu with a blanket and put a table surface on top of the blanket so that when you stick your legs under the kotatsu, your legs and feet will stay warm. Since the heating lamp is turned on via a switch of some sort, ****with the lamp off, ****it can also be used as just a normal table, making it pretty economical and versatile.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Time skip! I'd rather this story not become incredibly long, so I figured I'd jump through the very, very slow friendship rebuilding stage and cut to the chase. Hope nobody minds too terribly. (^_^)**

***sigh* I know I should be working on "Just a Little Holiday Blackmail – White Day Edition," but I just couldn't stay away for a whole month. *sigh* Maybe with this, I can get back to writing about Azuma, or is it Keiichi at this point? I don't know anymore. (-_-)**

* * *

"So are you and your violin students ready for the recital next month?" Noriko Ohno asked as her little sister's phone began to ring.

"Yup! Everyone's excited," Kahoko chirped as she shuffled for her cell and looked at the caller ID. "Sorry, I have to take this."

"No problem."

"Hello? Hihara-senpai? Is something wrong? No? Oh good…. Uh huh…Oh, don't apologize. There's no hurry." She smiled warmly. "I'm glad…. Okay, see you in twenty. Bye!"

"Who was that?"

"Just a friend who's watching Yuji for me," she replied evasively.

"Hihara…Hihara…wait," Noriko's gaze sharpened, "not Hihara-kun from high school?"

Kahoko cringed a little on the inside. "The one and the same."

"Didn't he drop you almost six years ago?"

She braced herself for a repeat of the lecture from their mother. "Um, yes…."

"Huh…." Noriko took a moment to process the new information. "You two seem pretty buddy-buddy." She shook her head in mild exasperation. "You always were too nice."

"I hardly think calling him a grass-for-brains imbecile was nice," Kahoko muttered under her breath.

"Really?" Noriko laughed. "You called him that? When?"

In the interest of both time and hopefully lessening the amount of teasing she'd get, Kahoko gave an abridged version of what had been happening the last six months.

Noriko leaned back with a thoughtful look on her face. "Well, he certainly seems to be sincere."

"He is. And he and Yuji just clicked. They're wonderful together, some kind of mysterious male chemistry or something." She smiled. "He's been so good for Yuji."

Noriko blinked in surprise when she saw that flicker in the eye and faint flush of color. "_Well, well, well. What do we have here?_" Swallowing a chuckle, she gave her sister a wolfish grin. "Y'know, it's been ages since you've gone on a date…."

"Please," Kahoko held up a hand, "let's not start this again. I don't have time to waste on fielding the random men you throw at me."

"But it sounds like you already see him plenty. What's the harm of a little bit more?"

"What are you-?" She clued in after the first half-ton of bricks fell on her head. "What? Hihara-senpai?" she asked aghast.

"It's like fate, don't you think?"

Kahoko groaned. "I should have known. You always were the largest proponent of, 'Don't you think you two are awfully close for being "just friends"?'" she mimicked in disdain.

"Hey, everyone said it," Noriko countered. "You just remember me the most because we lived together."

"And thus I heard it from you the most," she shot back.

She just shrugged with an unapologetic look on her face.

Kahoko sighed. "Look, Hihara-senpai and I…we're just grateful to be friends again."

"I can understand that, but-" This time, it was her phone that rang. Glancing at the caller ID, she picked up.

Kahoko breathed in relief. Saved by the bell.

"Mama! Auntie Noriko!"

She smiled as she was tackled by a ball of energetic five-and-two-thirds-year-old. Even better, an extra distraction.

"Guess what? Guess what?" he piped up eagerly as he beamed at her. "I can shoot a basketball!"

"Really?" She hugged him. "That's great! Looks like all that practicing is paying off." She looked a little more serious. "Did you finish your music theory homework?"

"Yeah, Hihara-san helped me with that part I was stuck on. Anyway, did you know Hihara-san can also play soccer, baseball, and volleyball?" he asked, slightly in awe of the man who sidled up unassumingly behind him.

"Wow," she smiled warmly at her friend, "it sounds like he's very athletic."

Despite his joy at being the object of one of her smiles, he blushed and scratched his head in embarrassment.

Ruffling her nephew's hair, Noriko asked, "Ready to get some new shoes Yuji?"

Yuji looked thoughtfully at his sneakers. They were worn, but still in good repair. "I suppose so." He'd rather get a new toy car, but shoes were good too. Turning on the charm, he asked, "_May_ I _please_ have the rest of your tart Mama?"

Kazuki laughed. "What? More dessert? Like mother like son, I guess," he teased.

Unable to act like a mature adult and stick out her tongue at the same time, she just sent him a playful glare as he and Noriko enjoyed having a joke at her expense.

"How have you been, Noriko-san?" Kazuki smiled. "It's been a long time."

"It has." She looked him up and down. "You must be, what, thirty now?"

"Thirty-one this past December."

"What? Not thirty for the second time?" she joked.

"No, unlike you, I continue to age," he bantered with a winsome smile.

She laughed, her grin stretching from ear-to-ear. "Well, what do you know? When did you get to be so suave?"

"Actually, I stole that line from Yunoki," he admitted sheepishly. "It sounded so smooth, I wanted to try it out, but I haven't had a chance 'til now."

"I see," she chuckled. "Tch," she shook her head, "still the same honest-to-a-fault goofball. And here I thought you'd grown up to become a lady-killer."

"I'm glad he hasn't changed," Kahoko defended as Yuji polished off the last of the tart. "He wouldn't be Hihara-senpai if he became a Casanova."

Yuji swallowed. "What's a Casanova?"

"Someone girls like to kiss," Kazuki answered, easily homing in on the best way to move the conversation along.

"Ew," Yuji wrinkled his nose, "I'm glad you're not one either." Looking hopefully up at him, he asked, "Are you coming shopping with us too, Hihara-san?"

"I'm sure Hihara-senpai is very busy," Kahoko answered quickly. She wasn't sure how she felt about the idea of all of them spending time together. Noriko was sure to blow something out of proportion to her in private later.

"Let the man speak for himself," Noriko chided, her sister's nervousness blipping onto her radar immediately. "The more the merrier, right boy-o?" she asked as she hid a smirk.

"Right," Yuji affirmed. "Can you come with us, Hihara-san?"

Kazuki eyed Kahoko uncertainly. For some reason, she seemed intent on avoiding eye contact with him. Praying that he was making the right choice, he smiled at Yuji. "Sure, I'm not doing anything."

"Yay!" he cheered and jumped off to pull his mother up. "Let's go!"

Despite also being a guy, Kazuki's opinion on shoes was quickly overruled by the moms, so he became the official runner, going to get this box or that according to the whims of the women. He didn't mind. For some reason, Kaho-chan seemed weirdly nervous, so he wanted to be extra helpful to make the experience easier on her.

Kazuki sighed guiltily as the others walked away to go pay for the shoes. He was still crazy about her. Or maybe he was just plain crazy. That was entirely possible. It wasn't like she ever gave him any real encouragement. She always seemed to be holding back a bit. There were a few times he thought she might finally be loosening up, but maybe she was just grateful for the attention he paid Yuji-kun.

Despite his blue mood, he smiled more brightly. Fun, smart, and interesting, Yuji-kun was a complete pleasure. Even if he weren't madly in love with Kaho-chan, Kazuki would have happily spent time with him. Having missed out on so much of his godson's life already, he enjoyed every second spent making up for lost time.

His eyes turned wistful. He wished they could be a real family. But for that to happen, he'd have to get Kaho-chan on board, and judging by the current record, that didn't seem to be happening any time soon, if ever.

He absently brushed some hair out of his eyes as he thought of the vow he had made himself. He thought he had been doing a pretty good job of keeping it. He had been focusing on getting to know Yuji-kun and Kaho-chan (again), and from the results, it seemed like it had been a wise decision. Things had been a little stilted at first whenever it had just been the two of them, but that had slowly faded with time. There was still some distance, but he was grateful for how much the gap had closed. Their friendship wasn't what it was, but he'd say that they had probably managed to get themselves back to about what would be a normal close friendship between a man and a woman who aren't romantically interested in each other. And he had a feeling he was most of the way forgiven, even if her trust was still a bit hesitant. For only six months, he thought that was phenomenal progress.

Yes, he had most of his vow down pat. Loving her, being with her, standing by her, and trying to help her when she needed it (though she was understandably more likely to turn to family than him if there was anything big that she needed help with), those were easy; they came naturally to him. Recognizing that he didn't deserve this chance to be with them like this? Completely covered. Knowing that she'd never love him back and that he'd only ever be her friend? That was a bit eh, but he just dealt with it the way he had throughout their whole relationship and tried not to think about it too much. After all, it had always been a possibility, so while he didn't have that totally figured out, in some ways, it was old hat.

But the being completely satisfied with what he had part? Horrendous. Terrible. To-tal-ly sucking. He'd always been kind of bad at it, but especially recently his progress in that department had been abysmal at best. He frowned. He'd have to work harder on that. But it was hard. Especially with Yuji-kun as an added bonus, he couldn't help but want more.

"Hihara-kun?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry Noriko-san." He shook his head and stood. "I guess I was spacing out."

"No problem." She resisted the urge to pat him sympathetically on the shoulder; even now, he was still in love with her. Poor guy. She smirked to herself. Maybe it was time to put those old matchmaking skills back to work.

Kahoko frowned at her sister as she sent Hihara-senpai and Yuji off to play about fifteen minutes later. "What's going on? Weren't we meeting up with Masaki-san and the kids to do something together?"

"Change of plans," Noriko quipped easily. "You could use a little one-on-one time with your boys."

"They're not _both_ mine! Just Yuji!"

"Oh chill, you won't even be alone with him. Don't tell me you're _ner_vous." Noriko teased.

Shoot. Now she was nervous. Budding romances—potential, theoretical, and especially actual—were not in her life plan right now, if ever. She huffed, "Even if I was nervous—and I'm not—we had plans!"

"So?" She nodded to the two males as they romped in the grass, "I don't think Yuji minds." She grinned with a wave. "Go join them. Who knows? Maybe you'll enjoy yourself."

Kahoko sourly waved back. How was she supposed to enjoy herself when Noriko's teasing was going to hound her all afternoon? With a resigned sigh, she headed across the lawn toward what looked like a game of Hero vs. Monster.

"Hah! Hah! Hah!" Yuji cried as the swords clashed.

"Ah…! I'm dead…!" Kazuki groaned as Yuji pushed his stick into his stomach.

"Yeah!" Yuji cheered, jumping up and down excitedly. "I'm the winner!"

"Counter attack!" Kazuki cried, jumping up and grabbing his shoulders.

Yuji just looked at him blankly. "You're supposed to be dead."

"Oh…." Kazuki looked a little embarrassed, but fell over gamely. "Ah…! I'm dead…!" he moaned again.

Yuji frowned. "Mama is better at this than you are."

"What am I better at?" Kahoko walked over with a slightly strained smile.

"Dying," Kazuki replied with a laugh. He grinned impishly up at her. "Yuji-kun killed me with his sword, but I was bad at dying. Want to give me some pointers?"

She tamped down on the chuckle and shook her head. He always could make her smile. Stupid sister. Even making her wary of laughing at a joke. "Why don't we take a walk around the park instead? Maybe we can find a playground or something."

As Yuji and Kazuki happily chattered beside her, Kahoko turned inward to peruse her own thoughts. The first was that this was all her sister's fault. Leave it to her to turn something as innocent as reconnecting with an old friend into a possible romance. She didn't have the time or desire for romance.

Okay, that was partially a lie. I mean, what woman wakes up in the morning and thinks to herself, "I hope I will not be swept off my feet today?" But she certainly didn't have the time. She was a single mom! And a romance with Hihara-senpai of all people! Now that was just crazy talk. He didn't think of her that way. They were friends: F-R-I-E-N-D-S. At one point, they were even best friends. If he had ever felt that way about her, he surely would've told her before she got married. He wasn't sleazy enough to be the kind of person who only wants someone after she's off-limits. Noriko was insane, and was doing a good job of driving her insane. Honestly.

She rolled her eyes. After a bunch of badgering, she had tried dating for a while. And sure, it had been kind of nice to have someone pay romantic attention to her, but she had no time, patience, or interest in the dating game. Yuji was her top priority. "_'But it sounds like you already see him plenty. What's the harm of a little bit more?'_" She had a sudden, intense desire to go and strangle her sister. Even if she was interested—and she wasn't—dating Hihara-senpai would be…complicated. She needed fewer complications in her life, not more. So off-limits. Her eyes darkened as she thought back to a box in her room that held her wedding rings. Way off-limits.

She was drawn out of her reflections when Kazuki slowly stopped and looked around. For some reason their surroundings had started to look vaguely familiar. His eyes widened. "_Could it be…?_" He quickly raced ahead, bounding across the quad.

Glancing at each other in confusion, his companions wordlessly followed.

He skidded to a halt before a large staircase. For a moment, he just stared at it until his eyes lit up in recognition. Then, with a light step, he began to climb. "Hihara-san!" he heard Yuji call after he had gone up about seven flights of stairs.

He turned with a grin. "Kaho-chan! Yuji-kun! Up here! Hurry!" he turned to continue eagerly ascending the steps.

"Hihara-senpai! Please, wait up a bit!" Kahoko called, panting as she and Yuji tried to catch up.

With an apologetic laugh, he cooled his heels on the landing. "_My heart feels so much lighter than the last time._" He looked down at the pair below him and smiled. "_I wonder why…._"

"So…many…!" Kahoko panted as she and Yuji joined him.

Yuji stared up at the long flight ahead of them. "And there're only more!"

"Eh?!" Kahoko looked up in disbelief, feeling her heart sink as she saw that indeed, the staircase continued quite a ways.

"But check the view," Kazuki grinned.

Yuji looked around, less winded than his mother. It was true; they did have a pretty cool view of the park.

"And just wait! At the top, there's a place that I've been saving for a special occasion. You won't regret it," he winked.

Kahoko chuckled and smiled. "You seem pretty confident, don't you senpai?"

"Yup! Now come on you two," he grabbed Yuji's hand and began to pull him up the stairs. "Let's go!"

"Is it really that amazing, Hihara-san?" Yuji asked, starting to get excited himself. It was like going on an adventure.

"Yeah!" Kazuki nodded enthusiastically. "When I was about your age, I went exploring near here and happened to find it."

"It sounds like a lost city or some kind of secret world when you say it that way." Yuji's eyes lit right up at the prospect.

"Exactly!" Kazuki nodded vigorously. "That's exactly how I felt!" He grinned just thinking about it. "At that time, it was probably the most moved I'd ever been in my life. It was like…when you're so hungry you think you're gonna die and suddenly a huge feast appears right in front of you."

Kahoko laughed as she joined them. "That example is so bizarre I'm not exactly sure what to make of it."

Kazuki chuckled. "Maybe. But in any case, after that, I just stayed there, completely blown away, and before I realized it, it was dusk. You can imagine how shocked I was."

"By any chance…was that because you realized you were lost?" Kahoko teased as she suppressed a smile.

Kazuki paused for a second and flushed. "Yeah," he admitted sheepishly.

They all laughed. "That seems like something that would happen to you," Kahoko giggled.

"Ah man, that's so uncool," Kazuki pouted. When his companions had stopped giggling, he gave Yuji a wink. "But I guess as long as it's just you two who know, it's not so bad." As they resumed their climb, he continued to talk. "So anyway, at that point, I got the idea that the next time I came, I'd bring the girl I liked with me. After all, taking in such a great view with the person you like has to be the best feeling ever!" He smiled at the other two conspiratorially. "So I decided that until then, this place would be my little secret." A faraway look came to his eyes. "It's been so long…I didn't even recognize it at first."

Kahoko's steps slowed. "Umm…senpai…does that mean…?"

"Huh?" he looked at her blankly before realizing exactly what he'd said. "Ah!" he cried as his face turned beet-red. "Wh-wh-wh-what a-a-am I-I s-s-s-saying?! I, ah, umm, err…Man, isn't the sky big, Yuji-kun?" He cringed. "No, that's dumb. Uh…gee, feel that wind!"

"But there isn't any," Yuji looked at him strangely.

"Erm, right…uh…the…" he suddenly spied something, "the flowers!" He hauled the boy over to the side of the staircase. "Aren't those flowers really pretty?!"

Kahoko tapped him on the shoulder. "Senpai?"

He barely managed to look her in the face. "Umm…yes…?"

She looked at him dubiously. "Is it really okay for Yuji and me to go there with you?"

"Of course!" he cried earnestly. "I mean…if it weren't for the two of you, I wouldn't have found it again."

Kahoko blushed a little as she smiled at him. "In that case…thank you, Hihara-senpai."

He returned it with a small smile of his own. "No. Thank _you_." He looked between the two. "Shall we?"

For a while, they continued with a moderate amount of chatter, but eventually, the conversation flagged as everyone focused on moving their feet upward.

"Ha…" Yuji flopped on a landing. "I'm beat." Kazuki crouched down beside him with a nod and looked up at the redhead that had just caught up. "You want to sit too, Kaho-chan?"

"Ah, no, I'm fine thanks," she declined despite her heavy breathing. She looked up the staircase. "There's not that much more left anyway."

He straightened up with a nod when something caught his eye. "Hey, Yuji-kun, check it! I think I see a café!"

"Huh?" his head shot up immediately at the prospect of dessert. Catching sight of the shop, he ran to get a closer look. "It is! Look, Mama!"

Kahoko walked over to see as well. "How pretty! The roof and the parasols over the tables make it look like a flower garden!"

Kazuki grinned at the pair. "Whaddaya say? On our way back, shall we stop in for a snack?"

"Oh yeah!" Yuji agreed enthusiastically.

"No arguments here," Kahoko laughed. She and Yuji shared a grin. "It'll be our little reward for all this climbing."

"Alright!" Yuji cheered, fired up again. "Let's do this!"

"That's the spirit!" Kazuki grinned. Without really thinking about what he was saying, he told them, "It's always been a dream of mine to eat cake with a girl in a fancy café like that."

"Why?" Yuji asked quizzically.

"Mmm…" Kazuki thought about it for a minute, "I like sweets, and girls like sweets, so eating yummy desserts together with a girl I like should be a lot of fun, right?"

"Hmm…? I see…" Kahoko murmured with an enigmatic smile.

"What?" Kazuki asked curiously as he cocked his head.

"You're still quite the romantic, aren't you senpai?"

Kazuki scrunched up his face a bit as he thought about it. "Maybe. People have always said I am, but isn't it normal to daydream about going on a date with a girl?" His eyes widened. "Ah…d-date…d-did I just say…" he nervously laughed as panic crossed his features. "Ah…man, I'm just saying all kinds of weird things today."

"Hey, Hihara-senpai," Kahoko had turned back to look at the view. She took a step forward and leaned out, craning her neck. "Isn't that Seiso?"

"Ah! Mama!"

"Kaho-chan! It's dangerous to lean out so far-" his voice cut off as she lost her balance and screamed. He didn't think, just leapt to her and wrapped his arm around her waist, catching her and pulling her to his chest. "Whew…" he sighed in relief. "Man, that was close! I think my heart might've stopped for a minute." He looked down at her in concern. "Are you alright?"

She blushed furiously. "I…I'm fine," she assured him in a faint voice. "Sorry about that."

As she turned her head, her scent filled his nostrils. And suddenly, he was seventeen again. For a precious moment, he held her to him and relived the memory, letting it wash over him and fill him with light.

But of course, all good things must come to an end.

Her face now a distinct shade of deep crimson, Kahoko awkwardly murmured, "Umm…senpai…?"

"Ah!" he yelled, scrambling back so the whole landing was between them. "I-I-I-I'm s-s-s-so sorry! I sh-sh-shouldn't have h-h-held y-y-you so tightly!"

"I-it's okay, senpai!" She bit her lip in embarrassment. "It's my fault for leaning out like that. If you hadn't caught me, I really might have gotten hurt-!"

"No, no, no, no, no!" Kazuki vigorously shook his head. "I should've let go right away!"

She pushed some hair behind her ear and clutched Yuji who had run over to hug her. "Oh, goodness…I still feel a little weak. That was really scary."

Kazuki paused for a second, his heart rabbiting a hundred kilometers a second. "Umm…Kaho-chan…if…if it's alright with you…maybe…." He walked over to them before he could lose his nerve.

"Senpai…?"

Taking her hands, he placed one in Yuji's and the other in his. "Maybe…" he looked earnestly into her eyes, "maybe the three of us can hold hands like this?"

"Eh?"

His face felt like it was going to be permanently burned. "If…if you don't want to, that's fine, but I thought maybe we could walk like this until you recover." He bit his lip and let go. "Ah…perhaps that's not such a good idea."

In retrospect, considering everything she had said to Noriko about not liking him and her own self-lecture before-hand, she had to admit that what she did next didn't really make sense. She chalked it up to the nerves from her almost fall. "I…I don't mind." With a shy smile, she gently slipped her hand in his, making him start. Her cheeks flushed a slight shade of rose as she felt warmth and security flood her body. "Umm…shall we continue climbing?"

Dumbstruck, he just nodded, and they resumed their ascent. They were holding hands. Was he dreaming? He must be. But as her sleeve brushed against his, he knew it was real. All of it was real. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and smiled to himself. "_This happiness I feel walking like this with Kaho-chan and Yuji-kun…this really is as good as it gets._"

Despite his height disadvantage, Yuji saw it first. "Look! Is that the top?!" He beamed excitedly to the adults. "We're almost to the secret place, right?"

"That's right!" Kazuki grinned. "Just a little bit more! Get ready to be blown away! The sunset there is amazing!"

"Really?" Kahoko's eyes lit up.

"Would I lie?"

Scooping Yuji into her arms in answer, Kahoko began to run up the steps. "Come on, you two! We'd better hurry! The sun's going to start setting soon!"

"W-what the-?! W-wait for me!" Kazuki cried, for once left in the dust.

As he lay in his bed later that night, Kazuki smiled contentedly at the ceiling. "_Being there with them was so much better than when I was there just by myself. We may have had to go through a lot to get there, but it made it that much more worth it._" He grinned as he thought of how awed they had been and the three-way pinkie promise they had made to keep this place a secret between the three of them. His heart warmed. Rather than detracting from the romance of the moment, having Yuji-kun there had somehow made everything more perfect than he had ever imagined.

"_And that moment when she put her hand in mine…._" As he remembered, his heart filled to bursting. Maybe…just maybe he was closer to that dream of being a family than he thought. Maybe it was okay to hope for more. Like the stair climb, the way into her heart wouldn't be easy, but if it would allow him to be with them, he'd endure it. For her and for Yuji-kun, he'd do anything.

He examined the hand that had held hers with a determined look on his face. "_I'll do my best._" He smiled and closed his eyes. "_Just like today, I want to always be with them._"

* * *

**So…I cheated. I admit it. So much of this chapter is ripped off of Kazuki's Character CD**** (basically from finding the stairs onward)**, it's embarrassing. But since most people don't understand it anyway, I feel a little less bad about it. I also had to modify the dialogue some to work with three people instead of two and dropped some sections, so I suppose I cheated a smidgen less. Okay, okay, I'm done with trying to justify myself. It's done. I cheated. I shall do a real translation of this scene and post it here at some point as penance. (T_T) Please forgive me!

**But even if the source material isn't mine, isn't it such a sweet scene? I mean the handholding, the stuttering, the playful banter, the daring rescue, and the youthful enthusiasm. *happy sigh* It honestly was just begging me to adapt it.**

**Looks like we're back to happy. Happy and determined really suits Kazuki better than sad. Next up, I think we'll take a peek at what Yuji's thinking in that little head of his.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Pretty short this time. I hope I'm not shooting myself in the foot by publishing this since I'm not totally sure how the chips will fall later on, but, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained," right? Hope you like it.**

* * *

"That was a good kick, but you weren't supposed to actually touch the ball Yuji-kun," Kazuki teased as he tapped the soccer ball back to him. "Kick on the side to make sure your foot is in the proper position."

"When can I start actually kicking?" Yuji complained. "We've been pretending to kick the ball for _ages_!"

Kazuki started giving the pouting child a noogie. "Kicking a soccer ball the right way isn't that easy to learn," he said in a pompous voice that made the boy giggle even harder. When Yuji finally managed to get away with a crow of triumph, Kazuki acquiesced, "But I suppose since you've been doing a good job, we can start actually kicking the ball now."

"Yeah!"

"But…."

"Awwww!"

Kazuki laughed at his crestfallen face. "It's not really that bad, I promise. You'll kick the ball, but I want you to pause for a second before you do." He demonstrated. "Like that. It's just to make sure your foot is positioned properly so you make sure to kick with the top of your foot and not the toe." He winked with a peace sign. "Can you do that for me?"

"Okay," Yuji nodded and returned the gesture.

The two played with the soccer ball for a long time, Hihara-san instructing him on proper form based on what he had learned in school and from pinch-hitting at a soccer camp his and Mama's friend Tsuchiura-san had helped with. Eventually, Yuji got tired of just kicking, and they ran around the park playing a modified form of keep away until he finally flopped to the ground to stare at the sky. "Break time!" he called out in a slightly tired, but happy voice.

"Sounds good. Oh, that's right," Kazuki remembered. "Can you pass me your Math homework? Your Mama wanted me to check it over." He chuckled to himself. "_Even if it's kindergarten Math, Kaho-chan still hates the sight of Math homework. She never did care much for numbers._" Not that he cared much for them either, but he was always happy to help make her life easier, even if it was something as small as this.

"'kay…" Yuji passed the sheet in question and stared up at the clouds. "That one is a dog."

Kazuki looked up and regarded the cloud thoughtfully. "A Shiba," he agreed.

Yuji nodded sagely and cocked his head at another one. "And that one is definitely a rabbit."

Kazuki glanced up again. "For sure, but the one next to it, do you think it looks more like a bear or a lion?"

"Mmm…maybe a bear? Although I suppose if the lion didn't have a mane…."

They continued along in that general vein as Kazuki checked homework, finding a boat, an airplane, agreeing to disagree on whether another cloud was one angel or two, various birds, an octopus and other creatures of the sea, some more land animals both domestic and not, a bus, a train, a few cars; they even found a heart. Eventually, after all homework was stowed and both parties had declared that the rest of the clouds looked like boring lumps of clay, they decided to grab a drink from the vending machines on the other side of the park.

As Yuji walked with the soccer ball, he observed the man beside him thoughtfully.

He really liked having Hihara-san around. He knew lots of things and they always had a lot of fun together. He loved his family—his cousins, uncles, aunts, and grandparents—but there was something about the times when it was just Hihara-san and him or when Mama was with the two of them that were special. He could talk to him and have him listen, and with the exception of Mama, he didn't need to share him with anybody.

It was probably sort of like having a father.

Not that he knew a lot about what that was like. Seeing as he had been just barely three when he had died, his memories of his own father were a bit hazy. He remembered what he looked like, remembered the deep sound of his voice and the warmth of his laugh. He remembered strong arms and being lifted high. But for the most part, he had been fatherless. He hadn't really minded until about six months before he met Hihara-san when Mama had started going on dates.

He still remembered that day. She had sat him down and they had had a long talk about dating and marriage, and his father. She had assured him that she wasn't trying to replace his father and that if she fell in love with someone else, it wouldn't affect her love for him. He supposed he appreciated the information, but he never really had much interaction with the men she'd date beyond meeting them at the door when they came to pick her up.

The main thing that conversation had done was make him realize that their situation was a bit different from most of the people he knew. At preschool, for the most part, mothers came to pick their children up, so he hadn't really thought about the fact that the majority of his peers had fathers. His cousins of course had both a mother and a father in their families, but since they were uncles and aunts to him, he'd never really thought of it that way.

So ever since then, he had looked at the men Mama dated with a kind of curiosity. For about four months, he would solemnly greet different strangers and wonder if this man would become his new Papa. Then one day, he heard Mama telling Auntie Noriko that she wasn't going to go on anymore dates. He was kind of glad truthfully; he hadn't really liked the last man.

"_But Hihara-san…._" Yuji watched him as he put some coins into the vending machine, whistling as he did so in a way that Yuji desperately admired. "_If it were Hihara-san, I wouldn't mind if he and Mama went on dates._" Unlike some of the other men he had met, Hihara-san never dismissed anything he thought or did as lame or overly silly; even if he himself knew it was silly, Hihara-san would give the action due consideration, or even just join right in and they'd have a good laugh. Unlike some of the other men he had met, Hihara-san never looked at Mama in a way he didn't trust. And only Hihara-san was able to make Mama smile and laugh the way she did now. He knew that Mama was the happiest she had ever been since Papa had died, and he knew that was at least in part thanks to him.

"One orange drink," Kazuki handed Yuji his bottle with a smile, "and one Pocari Sweat." He twisted off the cap and knocked a third of it back. "Man, that hits the spot!" he smiled to himself with a satisfied look on his face.

"Do you love Mama?" Yuji asked suddenly.

"Wh-what?" All the blood in his head drained out the soles of his feet.

"Are you in love with Mama?"

Where had this come from? I mean, he knew he wasn't exactly the best at hiding his emotions, especially considering what had happened on those stairs a few weeks ago, but why here? Why now? "I…I need to sit," Kazuki mumbled, stumbling to the ground as his knees turned to jelly.

There was a sick kind of nervousness in Yuji's heart as he stood before the man who'd been such a large part of his life lately. The large swig of juice he'd had didn't do a thing to prevent his throat from suddenly feeling dry, and despite the sugar that normally helped soothe his stomach, everything kept wanting to jump around inside of him. "I-I'm the man of the house. I-I have to protect Mama." He looked at him earnestly. "Mama…she smiles more and laughs more whenever you're around. She's been so much happier since we met you." He gulped. "If…if you don't love her, then you need to tell her so her heart doesn't hurt like it did after Papa died." He mussed up his hair uncertainly in a gesture he had picked up from Kazuki. "After Papa died, she was always so sad. Eventually she was happy again, but she was still sad sometimes. If-if you don't love her, you'll make her sad again." His face became as determined as a five-year-old's could. "I won't let that happen."

Pride flooded his heart as Kazuki let out a breath of admiration. "Oh you brave, wonderful child…you really are the man of the house, Yuji-kun." He smiled and licked his lips. "But you don't have to worry. I'm very much in love with your mother." He looked a little sad. "But I don't think she's in love with me back."

"Oh…." He was so afraid to say it, but it needed to be said. "Do…do you spend time with me so she'll fall in love with you?" he asked in a small voice.

Kazuki's eyes widened in horror and hurt before admitting to himself that it was a fair question. "No." He looked straight into those pale gold eyes that in another face had captured his heart. These eyes too held him captive, but in a different way. "I spend time with you because you're a great kid." He laid a hand on Yuji's shoulder. "And because I'm in love with you too."

"That-that sounds kind of weird," Yuji managed to say as emotions flooded his throat.

"Yeah, it does," Kazuki admitted with a rueful shake of his head. "But it's true. I want both of you more than anything."

"Like a family?"

Kazuki's eyes warmed. "Exactly like that."

"Would you make a baby with her?"

He blushed tomato-red. "S-s-s-some-d-d-day, I-I'd l-l-like to m-m-m-make a b-b-baby, I-I mean…." Were they really going to have this conversation? Here? _Now?!_ He was _so not_ ready for this!

"Would you rather have a boy or a girl?" Yuji asked anxiously.

Instant comprehension came to his eyes. Reaching out, Kazuki pulled the boy into his arms and held him tight. _This_ he could handle. "It might be nice to have a girl," he murmured. "Then I'd have both a son and a daughter, but having a little brother could be cool too, don't you think?"

Yuji just nodded mutely as he buried his head in Kazuki's shoulder, rubbing his eyes furiously. The security and happiness of being wanted almost made him cry. To Kazuki-san, he wasn't just a tag-along, extra baggage, or a means to an end. He didn't need to be afraid he'd be displaced by someone else someday. Unlike those men Mama had dated, Kazuki-san wanted to be with _him_, not just his mother.

"Yuji-kun…." Kazuki drew back so amber met gold. "I'm going to show you something, but it has to stay between the two of us." He gazed at him solemnly. "Can you promise that you'll keep this a secret?"

"Even from Mama?"

"Even from Mama."

Yuji looked conflicted, but eventually, he hesitantly nodded.

"Alright." Kazuki slowly moved his hand to his neck and pulled up a simple, but sturdy silver chain Yuji hadn't even realized he'd been wearing. Removing it from the layers of clothing surrounding it, he pulled out a necklace with a diamond ring as the pendant. He handed Yuji the ring on a chain. "It was my grandmother's, a 50th anniversary gift from my grandfather. She gave it to me six years ago when my grandfather passed away." A sad smile tugged at his lips. "She wanted me to give it to the woman I'd marry, said it would bring me luck."

Yuji turned it over in the light before handing it back. "It's really shiny."

Kazuki studied the delicate ring for a moment before slipping it beneath his clothes again. "I hope to give this to your Mama someday if she's willing to have me."

Yuji grinned. "I think she'll like it."

He smiled back. "I hope she will." His eyes got a conspiratorial gleam in them as he lightly butted heads with the boy. "But this stays between us, right Yuji?"

He beamed proudly. "It's a man-to-man promise."

"Yuji! Hihara-senpai!"

They both turned to see Kahoko walking toward them with a happy glow in her eyes.

Surreptitiously, they shared a knowing glance and linked pinkies, giving them a good shake before standing to meet her halfway.

As Yuji watched the two adults talk, all kinds of emotions welled up in his heart, but hope was the strongest. Someday, Kazuki-san would share their secret with Mama and present her the ring. And if she said yes, they'd become a real family.

He really hoped that day would come soon.

* * *

**I love writing Kazuki and Yuji together, and especially when it's fuzzy like this. I like fuzzies. And the bit with the ring. *happy sigh* Kahoko is so lucky. If I didn't have my own guy, I'd be totally jealous.**

**I believe that even if they're young, children can be mature and responsible about important things. I can remember many a time that a young child has impressed me with surprising insight, thoughtfulness, and nobility. Not to say that they don't have their bratty moments or that there aren't things that they can't (and probably shouldn't) be trying to grasp at a young age, because those are definitely there in abundance (or overabundance XD), but sometimes I feel like they don't get enough credit.**

**I know almost nothing about how to kick a soccer ball properly, but when I looked on Youtube, I came across a video that went on and on about how important form is, so I figured they knew more than me. Maybe it's like the Yamaha School of Piano.**

**I'm also pretending that kindergarteners get homework because I forgot to do my homework before I started publishing. (x . x) I guess in Japan, kindergarteners do not get homework (that surprised me), and you start first grade the April after you turn six. Making Yuji six messes with my timeline and introduces plot holes, so we shall commence with the homework torture early to keep things happy (for me). (^_^)v**

**Tentsubasa's Japanese Corner:**

**Pocari Sweat is a sports drink, like Gatorade or Powerade, that contains electrolytes and stuff that is supposed to make it better for athletes to drink than water. As far as I'm aware though, there's only one flavor. I like it, so I'm not complaining, but I guess I could see how they're potentially missing a larger market by not diversifying their flavors. It comes in a clear, plastic, rectangular bottle with a blue label and white lettering. I think it has a refreshing taste.**

**A Shiba, a.k.a. Shiba-ken or Shiba-inu, is a breed of Japanese dog. They're medium to medium-small size dogs and are usually sesame and white or black and brown with hints of white. They're very cute with curly tails, but I've heard their personalities likened to that of your rebellious teenage child. Apparently cuteness has a price. *laughs***

**Next up: **

**Let's see which is stronger: Kahoko's resistance or Yuji's hope. Place your bets. ;)**


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